Hello Comrades, From England

[Laughingasylum]

Greetings all.
I only just found this site while randomly searching the endless mass of google so I thought to give it ago.
I've been a Marxist for the past 3 years *tho my political views have always been left wing before I even knew what left wing was*.
I was a member of the Socialist Party but left earlier this year and now I've joined the Left Unity group. If anyone wants to say hello you're more than welcome.

[Q]

Welcome :)

If you have political questions, you can ask them in the Learning forum. That's why it's there after all!

If you have questions about your account, don't hesitate to send me a PM or ask here.

I presume you mean the SPEW (not the SPGB)? What made you leave it? How would you describe your political ideas today? What's LU like at your place?

[Blake's Baby]

Welcome to RevLeft, Laughingasylum.

I'm sure there's plenty of threads you can get involved in - perhaps you can give us you perspective on the Left Unity project.

Like Q, I'm wondering which 'Socialist Party' you're referring to - though I reckon most people in Left Unity are likely to have come from SPEW (though I thought SPEW was backing Left Unity anyway?) I do know someone who left the SPGB and joined Left Unity. Which seems pretty strange to me, but hey-ho.

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

Welcome :)

As fellow Englander and former SPEW member (assuming that's party you were with before LU), I hope you learn and enjoy your time on the boards.

TTFN

[The Idler]

Hello, I'm assuming SPEW too.

[GiantMonkeyMan]

Welcome to the forums, I hope you enjoy your stay and learn a lot. I'm a current member of the Socialist Party (England and Wales) so would be interested in knowing what made you decide to leave and what made you decide that the Left Unity organisation was a good alternative. There are some good comrades in Left Unity but the organisation hasn't seemed to get off the ground yet (at least where I live).

[Laughingasylum]

Hi
Yes, I meant Socialist Party as for the Left Unity, I don't know much about them but I'm going to a local meeting of theirs on Tuesday.

[Laughingasylum]

I left the SP after becoming a victim of bullying from other members due the the fact I suffer from bipolar and couldn't always make it to meeting, this gave them the accuse to call me lazy and not a Marxist. That's ignoring the fact it cost me £15 to travel to meetings and took 6/7hours there and back.
I also found the leadership to be stuck in the 80's in many ways, often just relying on selling papers instead of actually educating people in the ideas of Marxism.

[Q]

Hi
Yes, I meant Socialist Party ...
Eh, which one? There are two: Socialist Party in England & Wales (SPEW, main section of the CWI) and the Socialist Party of Great Britain (a century old anti-Leninist "impossibilist" group).


I left the SP after becoming a victim of bullying from other members due the the fact I suffer from bipolar and couldn't always make it to meeting, this gave them the accuse to call me lazy and not a Marxist. That's ignoring the fact it cost me £15 to travel to meetings and took 6/7hours there and back.
That's just awful. Not comradely at all. No wonder you left.


I also found the leadership to be stuck in the 80's in many ways, often just relying on selling papers instead of actually educating people in the ideas of Marxism.I kinda presume you're talking about SPEW now, in which case I agree. This whole "Liverpool" business from the 1980's, despite being a complete failure in the end, is somehow still a model of doing things. The paper is pretty much the most boring piece of rag you can possibly put your hands on (I had a subscription for a year), repeating and rehashing the same things every single week. There are many other aspects of course, but that's not for here (if you like you can read my blogposts (http://www.revleft.com/vb/blog.php?u=12488)).

[The Idler]

Recently republished and available from AK Press, is 'the Right to be Lazy' by co-founder of the (Marxist) French Workers' Party, Paul Lafargue. It opens


A strange delusion possesses the working classes of the nations where capitalist civilization holds its sway. This delusion drags in its train the individual and social woes which for two centuries have tortured sad humanity.

This delusion is the love of work, the furious passion for work, pushed even to the exhaustion of the vital force of the individual and his progeny. Instead of opposing this mental aberration, the priests, the economists and the moralists have cast a sacred halo over work.

SPEW are too stupid to appreciate Paul Lafargue. I've also read some of their output (a newspaper and a book by Hannah Sell) a few years ago and it's really dull. I've even read more interesting stuff from Socialist Appeal.

[Quail]

Hi, welcome to Revleft :)

[freecommunist]

I also found the leadership to be stuck in the 80's in many ways, often just relying on selling papers instead of actually educating people in the ideas of Marxism.

Never seen a SPGB paper sale, so guess it must be SPEW

Hi btw

[Flying Purple People Eater]

SPEW sounds like an incredibly unfortunate name for a political party.

Welcome to the forums! Hope you can find another party that isn't so intolerant.

[Ceallach_the_Witch]

I left the SP after becoming a victim of bullying from other members due the the fact I suffer from bipolar and couldn't always make it to meeting, this gave them the accuse to call me lazy and not a Marxist. That's ignoring the fact it cost me £15 to travel to meetings and took 6/7hours there and back.
I also found the leadership to be stuck in the 80's in many ways, often just relying on selling papers instead of actually educating people in the ideas of Marxism.

yeah, that sounds entirely consistent with what i know about SPEW. Good for you that you left imo, nobody should have to put up with abuse and bullying like that and it's particularly despicable that people apparently on the left should be so intolerant.

[helot]

I left the SP after becoming a victim of bullying from other members due the the fact I suffer from bipolar and couldn't always make it to meeting, this gave them the accuse to call me lazy and not a Marxist. That's ignoring the fact it cost me £15 to travel to meetings and took 6/7hours there and back.


That's fucking disgraceful! I hope you find some decent comrades.


Oh and hi from Yorkshire :)

[Laughingasylum]

Sorry, I keep forgetting about the Socialist Party of Great Britain. I was Socialist Party of England and Wales. CWI. I understand why you guys kept asking now haha.
I've joined with Left Unity tho it's still got to get off the ground, so there is a chance that it could really make a difference but we shall see. Thanks for the warm welcome comrades!